


finals

by e_is_better_than_a (orphan_account)



Series: tumblr asks [16]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Junior year, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21620764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/e_is_better_than_a
Summary: anon ask: Hi can you do a fluffy hardzello one where they're in high school?
Relationships: Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello
Series: tumblr asks [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558126
Kudos: 16





	finals

There were 2,000 kids in Ben’s high school and he had to have a crush on Joe Mazzello. Smart, goofy, adorable, and in one of the most popular sci-fi movies ever. So this situation was less than ideal. The situation being that the two were paired to write an alternate scene to Jurasic Park.

Of course, Joe had looked like a puppy that got a plaything when the project was announced, which was enough of a distraction for Ben to miss all the instructions and rubric, only hearing that the whole project was worth 10% of their final grade. Since it was the end of the year, it wasn’t odd to get projects like this. They weren’t supposed to be called finals, but that’s what they were. And Ben had to do his English final with his crush.

Joe walked over after the teacher announced the pairs and sat at the desk across from Ben. “So, any ideas yet?” Ben flushed.

“Uh, not really. Wasn’t paying that much attention…” He mumbled, fiddling with his fingers under his desk. Joe chuckled.

“Don’t worry about it. Now the question that determines whether or not we can be friends,” He said, faking a serious tone, eyeing the blond boy. “Have you seen the movie?”

“Well…” Ben exaggerated. _Of course he had seen the fucking movie! Joe looked adorable in it and acted pretty spectacularly for an 8-year-old._

“Are you actually saying that to my face right now? Like dead-ass?” Joe’s reaction made Ben put his hands up in surrender.

“I watched it just before school started last year because my friend made me,” _Lie, I watched it last week._ “I did, however,” He continued, trying his best to not laugh at the other boy’s face. His jaw was dropped and he looked like that was the worst insult. “read the book about 20 times.”

Joe just raised his eyebrows. “You read the book when you were 10?”

Ben shrugged with a small smile. “I like gory things.”

Joe just shook his head, shocked. “Okay, so since you’ve read the book so many times, what scene should we write?”

They spent the rest of the period brainstorming and eventually settled between two scenes. Ben wanted to do the tree scene with the brachiosaurs but Joe wanted to do the one with the car in the tree.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Joe said diplomatically. “You come over to my house tonight, like 7, you can stay for dinner and we can watch the movie and decide. Sound good?”

Before Ben could process what was happening, he got Joe’s address scribbled on his arm in black pen and watched the ginger bounce away to his friends. It all happened so quick that Ben just stood in the hallway for a second until the fact hit him that Joe had invited him over for dinner and a movie. It sounded oddly like a date. Ben’s face flushed again and he kept his gaze on the floor, attempting to hide the smile creeping its way onto his face.

—

He arrived at 7:05 in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with his backpack in tow, his beaten-up copy of Jurassic Park thrown in there. He knocked and heard someone running down the stairs. The door was thrown open to reveal a slightly out of breath Joe.

“I see you made it,” He said once Ben was inside, closing the door. “Five whole minutes late though, tsk tsk,” Joe teased, leading him to the kitchen.

“I know, your parents must hate me now,” Ben joked along, taking the plate Joe handed him.

“Who do you think I am? Meeting parents on the first date?” Joe said, plopping some spaghetti on Ben’s plate, throwing him a quick wink.

“And watching a movie with you as one of the main characters is better?” Ben said, grabbing a fork from the counter, smirking when he saw a faint dusting of red across his cheeks.

“As a matter of fact, it is better,” He defended, leading Ben to the family room, giving a smile over his shoulder. The blond huffed out a laugh and sat on the couch, watching the other boy get the movie ready.

As he worked, Ben froze. _He said this was a date. He winked. It was probably a joke but…_

The blond was broken out of his thoughts by the room going dark and a dip in the sofa. Joe was next to him, leaning back into the couch and eating his pasta. Before either could say anything, the opening theme began and Ben decided it was better if he just ate his dinner.

—

“I still think we should do the brachiosaurus scene,” Ben said. They had watched the movie twice and had finally migrated up to Joe’s room and were currently sitting on the floor, Ben’s book open to that page. It was past 12 pm but the pair were still wide awake.

“Why?” Joe whined. Ben rolled his eyes fondly at his tone.

“Because then it won’t just be screams and heavy breathing, it will actually be good dialogue. And it isn’t a scene focused just on you.”

“My acting was top notch in that car scene,” Joe argued.

“No it wasn’t, you were probably scared shit-less because it was a _real car_ about to _fall on you_ ,” Ben pointed out. Joe opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He huffed in defeat and Ben smirked.

The room lapsed into a comfortable silence as Joe read the pages from the book and Ben scribbled ideas in his notebook, trying not to think too hard on how close they were. They were lying on their stomachs, side by side, arms almost touching.

This whole night, the pair had slowly been getting closer. Halfway through the movie (the first time), Joe had buried his feet under Ben’s legs, complaining that they were cold. By the end of the movie (the second time), Ben was laying his head on Joe’s lap, almost falling off when Joe stood up. After they had put their dishes away and put the movie away, Joe grabbed Ben by the hand and pulled him up to his room.

A soft yawn cut through the quiet flipping of pages and scribble of pencil. Ben looked at the clock through his yawn, finding it read 2:30 am. The blond rolled onto his back, abandoning his brainstorming, and rubbed his eyes.

“Oh shit, I didn’t even notice it was so late,” Joe muttered, rubbing his own eyes and closing the book. Ben shrugged, raising himself to lean on his elbows. “We should probably go to bed,” the ginger managed through a yawn.

“If you want. I mean, sleep sounds better than doing this final, but we can keep going,” Ben offered, meeting Joe’s sleepy gaze.

“I think we should sleep.” Joe decided but made no move to stand up, still on his front and looking at Ben. His voice was soft, causing the blond’s breath to hitch, caught up in his eyes.

He didn’t notice the ginger leaning in until he was right in front of him, breath fanning over his face. Joe didn’t move closer, his eyes scanning over the blond’s face. Before he could move away, Ben pulled him closer by the back of his neck, pressing their lips together. Ben’s eyes fell shut as their lips slowly moved together.

“Was that okay?” Ben whispered when they parted, fingers playing with the hair at the nape of the ginger’s neck.

“Yeah,” Joe muttered. “More than.” He angled his head to the side and connected their lips in another long kiss.


End file.
